- Feb 4, 2010
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Not really. Many small gyms only have an international team because it allows them to keep their kids after they graduate. For many small gyms, international is their only team.
Good point. I'm more familiar with International teams that don't compete a full competition schedule and are more for fun. If they get a Worlds bid, great, but they don't really try to chase one. The team members are often adults and have jobs/are in college, and aren't competing at a bunch of Nationals every year. I don't think Int'l will ever become super popular in the US because the majority of athletes aren't going to have the resources or desire to do All Star cheer into adulthood. Most of the competitions I've been to have had very minimal Int'l team participation.
All star cheer in the US is driven by the 18 & under divisions. I could definitely see X-Small having a more significant effect than Small Int'l on the number of Lvl 5 teams going after bids at events. It may not happen overnight-- Small Coed used to not be a Worlds division and now it's huge. If XS really increases the number of Level 5 teams at events, the bids available will increase too. I doubt they ever add divisions unless they can make more money-- as someone else said, smaller team rosters bring in less money at Worlds. They are probably looking to increase the number of teams participating.
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